The invention relates to an arrow support mechanism including an arrow rest arm that is magnetically-, weight-, or spring-biased inward toward the side of the bow window so as to be retracted out of the path of a vane of the arrow just after it is released. The inwardly biased rest arm is released by bowing of the arrow instantly after its release.
Referring to FIG. 1, it is well known that striking of an arrow rest arm by a vane of an arrow 16 causes a deflection of the rear end of an arrow 16, causing inaccuracy of the shot. Such deflection is problematically large with recent "high technology" carbon target arrows, which are much lighter than aluminum target arrows. Most of the weight of a carbon target arrow is located toward the metal tip of the arrow, and the trailing end is very light. Consequently, if the vane of a carbon target arrow strikes the arrow support arm 15, there is a much larger amount of deflection at the tail end than is the case for a typical aluminum target arrow. (Plastic vanes produce more consistent results than feather fletching.)
The closest prior art known to the inventor is U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,058 (Terry), which discloses an arrow rest structure similar to that of the present invention. In the Terry patent, a magnet 39 biases the rest arm 29 away from the bow handle, rather than toward it. Therefore, the Terry arrow rest does not function on the principle of automatic retraction of the rest arm before the vanes of the archery arrow 16 can strike it, but instead functions on the principle of very light weight and pivotability of the rest arm wire, so the rest arm pivots out of the way when struck by the vanes of the released arrow. This, of course, deflects the trailing end of the arrow, resulting in reduced accuracy of the shot. Furthermore, the magnet and the wire portion 41 of Terry initially are in contact, held in that configuration by a high magnetic force that is inversely proportional to the very small distance between them. A relatively high force on the rest arm by the vane of the released arrow therefore is necessary to break the magnetic contact and force the rest arm to pivot out of the way. This results in a large counterforce against the vane and a considerable deflection of the tail end of the released arrow.
Despite the large number of known arrow rests designed to decrease deflection of a released arrow, there remains an unmet need for a simple, economical arrow rest assembly which completely avoids deflection of an arrow by preventing the fletching or vanes of a released arrow from ever contacting the rest arm.